Corrupt Government OK in Thailand
Corrupt government is OK in Thailand or at least it is according to a poll recently conducted in the country. Allied to this poll I have been following a post by Veera on the Bangkok Post blog for a few days now and the comments it has attracted regarding corruption in Thailand.
In his original post Veera writes a compelling article about the findings of a limited Abac Poll recently conducted in Thailand.
"The opinion survey which was conducted on 1,228 household respondents in 17 provinces across the country shows that 84.5 percent of them accept corruption as a normal practice in business and 51.2 percent of them admit they don't mind if a government is corrupt so long as it manages to bring about prosperity to the country and to improve the livelihood of the people. Amazing? " read the full post here.
The correspondent, who is a Thai National, then goes on to say that although most Thais are aware of government corruption he personally feels let down by the polls findings.
"Although it is a common knowledge here that corruption is deeply-rooted and widely practised especially in government bureaucracy to the extent it has been accepted as a ``way of life'', the findings are troubling, shocking and a big letdown."
Well I have some news for Veera, corrupt government is not confined to Thailand and if anything at least here it is seen as an accepted practice and not necessarily hidden away like in some Western societies. You only have to look at MP expenses in the UK to see what I mean.
Now as I said at the start of this post I have been following the article for a few days now because I wanted to see the response from the Bangkok Post readers many of whom are Thai.
Here are a couple of responses from the readers.
"I'm not even sure why this is news. Does anyone from any western country really think their government is honest? Most political studies I've read confirm that people vote based on their own narrow personal financial interests, and generally accept that both sides are corrupt. If anything, comparing the corruption in Thailand to that in America, Thailand is better since the corruption here occurs at a low enough level here to benefit regular people and not just rich corporations."
"There will always be corruption in any government. However, the poll reminded me of a facet of Thai culture that promotes the idea of "the ends justifies the means".
So does corrupt government effect the worldwide image of Thailand? I think not, but perhaps more worrying for Thailand's image is the fact that 84% of those polled also said that they accept corruption as a normal part of everyday business practice.
What do you think? Does corrupt government or corrupt business practices effect your view of Thailand. Would it affect your decision to live here? Is it any worse than anywhere else in the world?
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In his original post Veera writes a compelling article about the findings of a limited Abac Poll recently conducted in Thailand.
"The opinion survey which was conducted on 1,228 household respondents in 17 provinces across the country shows that 84.5 percent of them accept corruption as a normal practice in business and 51.2 percent of them admit they don't mind if a government is corrupt so long as it manages to bring about prosperity to the country and to improve the livelihood of the people. Amazing? " read the full post here.
The correspondent, who is a Thai National, then goes on to say that although most Thais are aware of government corruption he personally feels let down by the polls findings.
"Although it is a common knowledge here that corruption is deeply-rooted and widely practised especially in government bureaucracy to the extent it has been accepted as a ``way of life'', the findings are troubling, shocking and a big letdown."
Well I have some news for Veera, corrupt government is not confined to Thailand and if anything at least here it is seen as an accepted practice and not necessarily hidden away like in some Western societies. You only have to look at MP expenses in the UK to see what I mean.
Now as I said at the start of this post I have been following the article for a few days now because I wanted to see the response from the Bangkok Post readers many of whom are Thai.
Here are a couple of responses from the readers.
"I'm not even sure why this is news. Does anyone from any western country really think their government is honest? Most political studies I've read confirm that people vote based on their own narrow personal financial interests, and generally accept that both sides are corrupt. If anything, comparing the corruption in Thailand to that in America, Thailand is better since the corruption here occurs at a low enough level here to benefit regular people and not just rich corporations."
"There will always be corruption in any government. However, the poll reminded me of a facet of Thai culture that promotes the idea of "the ends justifies the means".
So does corrupt government effect the worldwide image of Thailand? I think not, but perhaps more worrying for Thailand's image is the fact that 84% of those polled also said that they accept corruption as a normal part of everyday business practice.
What do you think? Does corrupt government or corrupt business practices effect your view of Thailand. Would it affect your decision to live here? Is it any worse than anywhere else in the world?
If you enjoyed this post why not subscribe to my RSS feed
4 comments:
Corrupt business practices does not affect my view of Thailand.
All countries have corruption but the important thing to me is whether it directly affects or can physically endanger me and the answer with myself and Thailand is no.
No it would not affect my decision to live there.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I would have no voting rights in Thailand but retain them in the UK. My only worries on corruption would be UK based and whether they affected any property, savings or pension I had there and I doubt it would have any effect at all.
It is probably worse than some places in the world but also a hell of a lot better than others.
Asia is renown for doing a little backhand business, it has been around for hundreds of years. In the western world who perhaps hasn't given a carton of cigarettes to help secure those two sold out theatre tickets or bought the foreman an extra pint to get that shift of Saturday morning overtime. They say that in Thailand corruption starts from the taxi driver and goes upwards perhaps in the western world it starts in the school playground. Corruption has a lot more tools than just money.
Mike ,Having lived here almost 5 years ,I have seen a lot of corruption in and around Thailand and for the most part like most small village like Whang Pho ,we hardly ever feel the effects of it , it's the local corruption in the business that bothers me most , as we try to spend all the money we can on a local level , I hate it when someone trys to charge me more than the Thai person standing next to me , I have learned a little Thai and for the most part know the going prices for most goods , and if I feel I am being set up for corruption on a business level I simply hand them to the person taking the money and quoting the price give them a BIG THAILAND SMILE and walk away never to darken the door of their business again , their loss for allowing corruption to be a part of their lives and business. And as a side note I find that it is the OLDER Thai folks that try to double price us frangs and not as much the younger generation , they (the younger) have come to realize that we are not as dumb as we look , while the older folks still look at us as one who picks money off trees. Malcolm
Yes, I think it's worrying, and personally I feel that part of the problem with the laborious transition to democracy stems from certain interested parties being reluctant to give up the perks of the job, in business and politics. Being accountable doesn't exactly appeal, to those involved.
What does corruption mean to me personally? It means that you might enter an apartment building or a restaurant and not know whether the a bribe was paid to avoid certain expenses involved in building security, for example. Just look at what happened, and why, at that disco in Bangkok at the end of last year.
It means you might be falsely accused of a crime, and irrespective of the rights or wrongs of the matter, find yourself in prison if you don't come up with the cash. Look at the hullabaloo over the airport con, where tourists were being falsely accused of shoplifting and threatened with imprisonment unless they came up with a massive 'fine'.
So to that extent I differ slightly with Martyn, in that I do think - no matter how low a profile we keep - we are more vulnerable as foreigners in a country such as Thailand, where bribery, corruption and cronyism are endemic. I think that there is a considerable difference in risk to back home in Europe. I saw a global league table on corruption somewhere. Thailand wasn't right down in the relegation zone, but it wasn't that far away.
I think the way Thai society is, it would be difficult to change. You have the 'top man' mentality that Thai's live by. 'Top men' will always meet and do business together, whether in Thailand or abroad. Trying to exert some form of regulation over this kind of thing won't be easy. Plus, we've just seen in UK politics how pretty much every one of them is on the take .... I don't think our politicians are any different, in many cases I think they are far worse.
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